Corus are renowned for having one of the biggest packs in Division One and the Athletic coaches had devised a game plan to try to offset this huge advantage.

Part of that plan was to match their opponents early on and then to expand the game into the open spaces.

The early exchanges were indeed fairly even but at an Athletic scrum 40 metres from their own line, the visitors’ juggernaut pack drove back the lighter Athletic eight and turned the ball over. The Corus No 8 picked up and ran at the defence who all bought a simple dummy for him to run unopposed all the way to the line for the opening score.

Corus renewed the pressure from the kick off and harried the home defence mercilessly. Athletic No 8 Jonny Jones had to leave the field and was replaced by the dynamic Matthew Hillman.

Corus continued to exert pressure until a loose kick out of defence fell to Evans who coolly dropped a goal.

It was now the Athletic’s turn to exert some pressure of their own only for a relieving kick by Corus to be missed and when centre Rob Coles was caught in possession, he was penalised and Robinson kicked the goal and added another huge effort from halfway.

The Athletic came back and when Robinson was caught in possession by Chris Whitcombe, it led to a penalty which Stuart Morris kicked.

With half time approaching, Sean Williams took a great catch from the kick off and the Athletic forwards drove forward and forced Corus to concede another penalty which was kicked by Morris to make it 16-6 at the interval.

From the restart, a number of good opportunities were created but Corus were often able to drive their way out of defence.

Against the run of play and as a result of a loose tap by the Athletic at a lineout, Corus poured through towards the home line and the ball was quickly transferred to Evans who darted over from 20 metres and Robinson converted.

The Athletic refused to roll over and a great bout of inter-passing and hard running resulted in the tireless Williams racing over for Morris to convert.

The Athletic continued in this high tempo mode and their opposition were visibly wilting under the pressure.

Another slick interchange of passes set up a ruck from which fly-half Steve Lewis drew the Corus back line and a flat pass to Dan Apsee allowed the flanker to gallop over from 25 metres out and Morris converted.

Corus were not to be denied, however, and they rallied to force a penalty which extended their lead with the Athletic having to settle for a losing bonus point.